Colorful Monday

This morning was back to our "new normal" of "getting ready for work." At least breakfast isn't until 8:15, so we are usually awake before the alarm goes off. Since neither of us are morning people, however, we aren't singing with the birds. We do manage to get to the breakfast table on time & make reasonably intelligent conversation with the others.

Jeff told the rest of us about his weekend here in the Chennai area. One of the places he visited sounded very much like a slum, with virtually no sanitation--smelling of urine, people living in makeshift shelters. Neither Montana nor LuRue are sure they are ready to experience that. They will talk to Jeff more before deciding. The reality is that three of "our" children at the SEAM home that we visit every night come from places like this and would surely have to go back if SEAM closed. That is heartbreaking as we have come to care for all the children there.

Montana and LuRue tried some new things today with the same classes as last week. Some activities worked very well & some were less effective, partly because some of the students--especially some of the boys & especially in Standard 5--may be getting a little too used to us and we sometimes find it difficult to hold their attention. Makes LuRue glad that her teaching days are behind her and convinces Montana that she'll go into a profession other than teaching. The kids are, for the most part, extremely eager and lots of fun, but they certainly do suck the energy out of those in front of the class.

After lunch, Sheeba took all of us on a shopping trip without having to cross "the street", though she did say that the post office is "over there" if we want stamps. The night we crossed it to go to dinner at a restaurant, one volunteer said that it reminded him of one of the original video games called Frogger.

Jeff and Montana found what they wanted in the same shop. Jeff bought a lungyi (a man's "skirt" which can be worn long or knee-length). Montana bought two sarees, one for herself and one for a friend. Marcia got a scarf in another store to match one of her outfits, and LuRue got some more supplies for the older girls at SEAM...they love making the paper earrings more than anything else...called "quilling", mistakenly written as "quilting" in another blog (auto-correction!)

One last stop was a trip to the tailor shop where Sheeba called for the tailor & his wife to come down from their upstairs apartment. Montana is having a "blouse" made for her saree.

At 5:00, we went again to SEAM, as we do every day. The children are always so happy to see us. Tonight Montana led off with the first song, playing the guitar for "Alice the Camel". She is practicing to take over from Marcia when Marcia & Greg leave on Saturday. It went very well, so she'll be practicing her songs to be the musician, beginning next week.

The older girls were so much into their earring projects tonight that we had to scoop up the materials, practically forcing them into quitting. Even Sheeba was reluctant to quit! Even though only one of the girls can communicate in any meaningful way, it is rewarding to share the activity with them.